Keep Your Eyes Open
by jayfeather12345
Summary: He was my best friend and I was his. Until his father forbade us from seeing each other ever again. He went to the school I never believed in; I led a normal life with a great boyfriend. Until he turned up five years later and my world was once again thrown out of proportion. Draco ignored me when I received the letter I should have got five years ago and the was is approaching...
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter or Taylor Swift.

I had this idea while listening to 'Eyes Open' by Taylor Swift. The Prologue is what happened five years before the story actually starts.

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**Prologue**

I held up my stick in front of me, narrowing my eyes. "This is most definitely a sword," I said firmly.

The pale, white-blonde haired boy who stood opposite me shook his head, and drew his stick back over his shoulder; taking up what he had told me was a proper fighting stance. "No, it's a _wand_," he argued. "Wands are much better than swords, anyway."

I rolled my eyes. "Wands don't exist, Draco. Everyone knows that. However swords are quite real," I pointed out. "How could we have a swordfight with wands, anyway? Come on, I'm waiting!" I wiggled my stick, daring him to make the first move.

"Wands are too real," Draco insisted, ignoring my waggling stick. "And so is magic, otherwise why am I a wizard like my father?"

I laughed. "You're not a wizard, I bet your father is just messing with you," I grinned. Draco could be so silly sometimes. As if wizards were real!

"Have you met my father? He's not one to joke about _any_thing. Besides, I got my Hogwarts letter earlier," Draco told me.

I tossed my stick aside and a look of interest took over my face. "All right then, show me this letter you've been going on and on about receiving since the moment we met. I can't wait to find out why a piece of paper with words on it is so exciting."

"I haven't been going on about it for that long," Draco protested, but he also dropped his stick.

"Oh really? The first thing you said to me was 'Gerroff! After I've got my letter you'll be sorry you ever – ahhhhh!'," I smirked.

"Well, we were five and you ambushed me for no reason. What did you expect me to do, ask you nicely to go away? And besides, now that I do have my letter you will be sorry if you try anything. I'm going with father to get my _real_ wand tomorrow, in Diagon Alley," Draco boasted.

Despite myself, I was curious. "Can I come? If this 'Diagon Alley' is real and you can show me your 'wizarding world' then I'll believe you," I added.

Draco looked about to say yes, but then he hesitated. "You know my father doesn't like you..."

"Please?" I stared at him beseechingly.

A look of smugness crossed over his pale features. "Okay, I'll ask Father if you can come, but only on one condition. You have to beg," he said slyly.

I gaped. "But... but... no fair!" I wailed. "I never beg!"

"Exactly," Draco looked pleased.

I glared at him, a thought occurring to me. "But I could persuade you other ways..." I suddenly lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. "Ha!" I cried triumphantly as he struggled to push me off.

"Cheater, you didn't give me a chance," Draco accused, trying to wriggle out from under me.

I grinned. "I'll get off if you say I can come with you," I declared.

Draco sighed. "Fine, you can come. But I'll make you beg one of these days," he promised me.

I rolled off him, and kept rolling until I lay at the bottom of the hillock Draco and I had been standing on. "I'll look forward to the challenge," I called cheerily.

Draco was looking down at me weirdly. "What are you doing down there?"

I gasped. "Haven't you ever rolled down hills before? It's really fun, try it," I told him.

Draco looked at me like I was crazy but lay down anyway. "What now?" he asked. I giggled and stood up. Carefully, I crept back up the small hill until I was positioned behind him. "Zakia?" he asked again.

"Now, you say 'wheeeeee!'" I laughed, pushing him so he rolled all the way to the bottom of the hillock screaming.

"Arrrrgh Zakia you could have warned me!" Draco yelled, getting to his feel and trying to brush the green grass stains off his dark clothes.

I collapsed with laughter. "No way, that was too funny! You should have heard your scream and seen your face!"

"Grr, I'm gonna get you for that!" Draco growled, scrambling up the hillock. I gave a shriek of alarm and, still giggling, climbed to my feet. When I saw the angry look on Draco's face I gave another scream and began running blindly to escape him.

I had been running for a few minutes with Draco hot on my tail when, not looking where I was going, I slammed into something solid.

"Owww," I complained, sitting down on the ground with a bump. "That hur...t," my eyes widened in fright as I looked up at the 'thing' I had collided with. That 'thing' was in fact a person. A person who, judging by the look on his face, really didn't like me.

"Miss Earlene, what brings you all the way to my manor?" asked a cold, sneering voice that dripped with sarcastic politeness.

"M-mr Malfoy," I stammered, just as Draco came flying around the corner. I closed my eyes and groaned as he, too, slammed into his father.

"Draco, what is the meaning of this? Behaving like a muggle ruffian is no way for a Malfoy to act!" My Malfoy suddenly roared at his son. I winced.

"F-f-father!" Draco stuttered. "I was just..."

"Inside now, Draco. As for you, _muggle_," Mr Malfoy spat contemptuously. "I don't want you going near my son ever again."

"But-" both Draco and I protested at the same time as we stood up.

"You are both eleven – far too old to be playing childish games. If you are going to continue to teach my son bad habits, Miss Earlene, then I'm afraid I cannot let you see him again," Mr Malfoy said smoothly, staring down at me with an air of superiority.

I wanted to cry out that it wasn't fair, but thought better of it. "I promise not to teach him any bad habits," I tried.

My Malfoy eyed Draco's grass-stained robes with disdain. "It seems I have been far too lenient, allowing you to spend any time together at all. Good day, Miss Earlene," he said firmly, grabbing Draco by his collar and dragging him off, back towards the Malfoy Mansion.

"Bye Zakia," Draco called sadly over his shoulder, earning a reprimanding slap from his father.

"Bye," I murmured, watching them until they disappeared.

I stood there, rooted to the spot for a long time, lost in thought. Somehow, I had a bad feeling in my stomach that that was the last time I would see my best friend for a long time. We had met when we were five, when Draco was playing with his toy broomstick in the patch of wilderness near my house. I had heard him and gone to investigate, and we ended up best friends. Even if he was a little strange when he called me a 'muggle' and insisted that magic was real (I had believed him at the time, but then what five year old doesn't believe in magic? I knew better now). But we had stuck together for six long years.

I felt an empty space growing in my heart as I gazed at the closed door of Malfoy Manor from behind the gates. "Goodbye, Draco," I echoed myself miserably. Then, I turned and trudged home.

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**Author's Note: **I hope you enjoyed, but even if you didn't, a review is very welcome!


	2. I Have Magic?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise.

This story doesn't exactly follow cannon as you might have guessed but I will try to keep it as close to the origional story line as possible.

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**Chapter One**

**~ I Have Magic? ~**

***Five Years Later***

I hummed as I brushed my long, black hair. It was slightly wavy and fell past my shoulders. As I looked at myself in my bedroom mirror, I saw two bright green eyes staring back at me from underneath my fringe. Freckles dusted my nose and cheeks giving my pale face a little colour.

I placed the brush back on my dressing table and studied my face thoughtfully. A lot had changed in the past five years. For one thing, I used to have short hair and no fringe. My eyes were a darker green than they used to be, and of course my body had physically changed. My humming faded away as I wondered if he would recognise me now, and if he had changed as much as I had.

The doorbell rang, startling me out of my thoughts. Instead of running down the stairs like I usually did I walked down slowly. A feeling of nostalgia settled over me that not even Aaron, my boyfriend, could lift when I opened the door.

"Hey Zakia," he smiled as he walked right in without waiting for my invitation. We'd been friends for five years – we met on our first day at high school. We've been dating for just over a year. I studied him as I followed him into the living room. His brown hair was messy and his hazel eyes sparkled. He was handsome and taller than me by a couple of inches (I wasn't that small a girl – I was average height for my age). "So, are you ready to go?"

"Hmm?" I blinked. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

Aaron rolled his eyes. "We're going to the fair with Ali and Joe, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, the fair," I nodded. Ali was my best friend and Joe was one of Aaron's close friends. I had known Joe for five years but we had only really been friends for the past three years. Ali and I had been friends from the moment we met four years ago.

"Are you alright Zakia? You seem, I don't know, sad," Aaron frowned and came closer to me.

I made an effort to smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling slightly nostalgic, that's all. Come on, we don't want to be late." I grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards the door.

"Erm, Zakia?" Aaron grinned. "You might want to change out of your pyjamas."

I glanced down at myself. "Pyjama's? This is the latest fashion!" I gasped, staring at him teasingly.

Aaron looked me up and down. "Hmm... Nah, they still look like PJ's to me, and I refuse to take you out unless you get properly dressed."

I felt myself feeling much better as we exchanged our usual banter and smiled to myself as I bounded up the stairs to my room. Aaron could always make me feel better. I ignored the nostalgia, and forced myself to focus on the day ahead.

* * *

It was dark when we arrived back at my house. Both of us were laughing as I fumbled to unlock the door.

"See, I told you it was a giant Waffle," Aaron was saying as I finally managed to unlock the door.

"Shhh, my parents are probably asleep," I whispered. Aaron followed me into the hall and I half closed the door behind him. "But," I added, "just because Joe agreed with you doesn't make it true. Ali thinks it was a weirdly-shaped banana too."

Aaron's eyes sparkled as he chuckled under his breath. "Ali's your best friend; it's like the law that she has to back you up. It was definitely a giant waffle."

I raised an eyebrow. The hall was dark but moonlight through the window illuminated us. "So? You're my boyfriend and you disagree with me," I pointed out, shaking my head slightly at how stupid our conversation would sound if anyone overheard us. "Anyway, it's getting late. You should probably head home," I sighed reluctantly.

"What, don't I get a kiss?" Aaron stepped closer, his eyes fixed on mine. I felt my heart speed up in my chest and forced myself to breath naturally as I shook my head.

"Not unless you agree that is was a weirdly shaped banana," I told him. Even after over a year of dating he still affected me. Not that I minded.

Aaron smirked. "Fine, it was a weirdly shaped waffana," he breathed in my ear, placing his hands on the wall either side of me.

"Waffana?" I asked sceptically in a slightly breathless voice as his face got closer to mine.

"Yep. A Waffle and a Banana," he whispered. I could feel his breath on my neck and raised my hand to stroke his cheek.

"Okay, it was a Waffana," I agreed with a smile.

Aaron lowered his head and kissed me gently. I ran my fingers through his hair, my eyes closed in pleasure as he rubbed his hand along my bare arm. Aaron began to deepen the kiss but a 'crack' outside the door made both of us jump, startled.

"What was that?" I whispered. I took a deep breath to calm my speeding heart and noticed Aaron's eyes flash.

"Probably a just a cat or something," he shrugged, brushing his forehead against mine.

"Father, I really don't think-" a muffled voice made me push Aaron away.

"That was no cat," I said. "That voice sounds familiar..." I muttered to myself, but I couldn't place it.

I glanced at Aaron. His face was slightly flushed from our kiss and his hair was even more dishevelled than it had been earlier. "Do you think..." he began, but trailed off as another voice sounded.

"You will do as you're told. Kill the girl. It's for your own good, Draco. The Dark Lord needs your complete loyalty, remember. Think of this as training," a voice snapped.

I swallowed. Kill the girl? That did not sound good. Aaron and I glanced at each other before we both reached for the door. Opening it, I saw two people I thought I would never see again standing on my doorstep.

"Draco? Mr Malfoy?" I exclaimed in surprise. Both turned their heads to look at me. Mr Malfoy sneered at me, glanced once at his son and strode away. Draco just stared at me.

"You look different," he stated. _Blunt as ever_, I thought.

"You don't," I replied stiffly. That wasn't entirely true; Draco had the same white/blonde hair and silvery eyes but he had grown taller and looked more mature now. He was taller than Aaron, but not by much. "What do you want, Draco? Why are you here?"

Before Draco could reply, Aaron broke into our conversation. "_This_ is Draco?"

"You told a muggle boy about me?" Draco asked in disgust. "Who is he anyway?"

I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer to Aaron so we were touching. He put his arm around me – a gesture not missed by the boy standing before us. "Of course. Aaron's been my best friend for five years since we met on the first day of high school, and we started dating last year. You didn't answer my question: Why are you here?"

Draco's eyes flashed. "Send your... boyfriend away and I'll tell you."

"I'm going nowhere," Aaron glared at Draco.

"He stays," I confirmed.

"Fine," Draco shrugged and I glanced at Aaron uneasily. Something wasn't right. "You remember how I used to go on and on to you about Hogwarts and how magic was real, but you never used to believe me?"

I nodded. How could I forget? "You never shut up about it," I remembered out loud.

"Yeah," Draco smiled fleetingly. "Well, it's real and I can prove it." He pulled out a stick from the black robes he was wearing.

"A sword?" I quirked an eyebrow.

Draco rolled his eyes. "It's a wand, Zakia." I stared at it closely, but it still looked like a stick to me, even with the grip where Draco was holding it.

"Nah, it's definitely a sword," I replied, surprised at how easily we were slipping back into our old banter, as if we had never been apart.

But Draco's jaw tightened as he said, "This isn't a game. Lumos," he commanded and the tip of the stick glowed suddenly, sending out light.

"Wow, it's a torch, how interesting," Aaron commented sarcastically.

"I know you're old fashioned Draco, but seriously? Calling a torch in the shape of a stick a wand?" I asked him sceptically.

Draco just looked at me. "Fine. Watch this." He pointed his 'wand' at the potted plant next to the door and said something that I didn't catch. I stared in disbelief as it transformed into a mouse which he then lifted into the air using his wand and guided it until it came to rest on my shoulder.

"What... What on earth just happened?" Aaron reached out and took the mouse off my shoulder, feeling it as if to check it was real.

"Magic," I whispered.

"Now do you believe me?" Draco demanded.

I sighed and shook my head. "I always believed you, Draco, I just didn't want to admit it. I hate being wrong, and also admitting I believed you would be admitting my life was a lie."

Draco frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Strange things happen around me. When I'm in danger, or anxious about something, or... well, you get the idea. Something would happen. This one time I was at the Park with Aaron and I was on the swing when I fell. Instead of landing hard and breaking my wrist or something, when I landed it was like landing on my bed. Other things happened as well, things I could only explain if I believed in magic," I admitted.

Draco shook his head in disbelief. "No, that's not possible. Why aren't you at Hogwarts? You can't be a Witch, you can't be."

"Do I look green to you? Of course I'm not a Witch!" I told him indignantly.

"I've had enough of this," Aaron stepped closer to Draco. "What do you want?"

Draco glared at Aaron and didn't answer him. Instead, he looked right at me. "My father wants me to kill you."

"You can try," I replied coldly. "Is that why you're here then? To kill me?"

"I-" Draco began, but an explosion behind him shocked us all into silence. Aaron's arm tightened around me and, though I would never admit it, I was glad he was holding me.

"What was that?" I was the first to speak. In the distance I saw flames lighting up the night sky.

"It was your doing, wasn't it?" Aaron was glaring at Draco again.

Draco smirked. "You've been staring at me for the past quarter of an hour. How could I have done it?"

"Because you're a Wizard," Aaron growled.

I snapped my fingers and both boys glared at me. "Stop arguing. Draco, go home to Daddy if you've nothing else to say."

Draco whipped his wand up to my face. "Don't insult me," he hissed.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" I asked sarcastically.

Draco's eyes darkened. "I can do much worse than that. Trust me, you don't want to know what I can do."

In the distance I could hear shouting and it was getting closer. "We were best friends for five years, Draco. Why have you turned up now?" My voice was soft, and I wondered if he had even heard.

"I didn't want to come here. My Father ordered me to kill you, I... I can't disobey him," Draco told me quietly, lowering his wand so it was pointing at my heart. His arm wobbled and he didn't meet my eyes.

Aaron tried to smack the wand out of Draco's grasp but Draco took a couple of steps back. "Watch it!" he snarled at Aaron.

I looked up when I saw people running outside on the street, past my house. Someone yelled 'Expelliarmus!" and Draco gasped at his wand flew out of his hand. A tall guy with bright ginger hair was running towards us.

"Malfoy," he shouted, grabbing Draco before he could run. Two more men came up behind him and took Draco away. He struggled in their grasp and cursed at them but they didn't let him go.

"This night is just getting stranger and stranger," I muttered to Aaron, yawning.

"I'm sorry, you two are going to have to come with me," the red headed man told us apologetically.

I groaned. "Don't tell me; you're here to wipe our memories because humans aren't supposed to know anything about magic?"

"How did you know?" he stared at me in surprise and I grinned.

"Draco would never shut up about how 'privileged' I was to know him because if anyone found out then the 'magical government' or whatever would punish us," I said.

The ginger haired young man frowned. "The Ministry of Magic, yes. Now, if you would each hold on tight to me."

"What?" Aaron sounded as confused as I felt. Not giving us a chance to protest, he grabbed our arms and suddenly the world spun round and round.

When the spinning stopped I fell to the ground, dizzy and disorientated. As my vision returned to me I saw Aaron throwing up and felt even more queasy.

"Sorry about that," the ginger haired guy apologised and, pointing his wand at each of us in turn, he muttered some magic words. I instantly felt better and Aaron stopped being sick.

"I'm Charlie, by the way. Charlie Weasley," he said as he offered his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me up. I wobbled for a few seconds before Charlie steadied me and then went to help Aaron.

"Where are we?" I asked Charlie, looking around in surprise. We were standing inside a large room where loads of people were bustling about wearing strange robes.

"The Ministry of Magic," Charlie replied.

"You work here?" Aaron asked, rubbing his head.

Charlie laughed. "Nah, I work with Dragons in Romania, but I had a job to do at Hogwarts last year and decided to stay with my family over the summer. Since I'm here, my Father managed to convince me to help out at the Ministry for a bit because they were short on numbers for a while. I'm going back to Romania soon though. Okay, this way, he began leading us through the crowd and down a passageway.

"Wait – Dragons? Romania? Hogwarts?" I echoed.

Charlie grinned. "Yeah, Dragons really do exist – unfortunately not in England anymore."

"Why are you telling us this? I thought you said you were taking us to get our minds wiped?" Aaron mumbled, still a bit dizzy.

"Exactly. You won't remember any of this anyway," Charlie agreed.

"But, Hogwarts is the school for magic children right?" I asked with a frown.

"Yeah," Charlie nodded as we turned a corner and got into an elevator.

"So shouldn't I have gone there?"

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "You're a muggle, like you said: only children with magic school at Hogwarts."

"But I do have magic," I told him. Charlie shook his head.

"You can't have. If you had magic you would have received a letter inviting you to attend Hogwarts when you were eleven and a Professor from the school would have come to visit your parents," he explained. I then told him the same things I had told Draco about why I thought I was magic.

The elevator stopped and we all got out. Charlie studied me for a few moments. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Yes."

Suddenly, without a warning, Charlie lunged forward as if to punch me. I shut my eyes tight and cowered against the wall, but the impact never came. I opened my eyes to see Charlie lying sprawled on the floor.

"What do you think you're doing?" Aaron yelled at him, standing over him angrily.

Charlie picked himself up, a look of surprise on his face. "Sorry, I had to be certain."

"Certain?" I asked warily in case he threw himself at me again.

"That you have magic. I believed you, I just needed to be sure. Sorry," Charlie apologised.

"What do you mean?" Aaron asked him, still sounding angry.

Charlie sighed. "When I tried to punch ..."

"Zakia," I supplied for him. He nodded and carried on.

"When I tried to punch Zakia, the magic within her created a sort of shield and threw me away."

"Wait, so it's true? You really do have magic?" Aaron was staring at me with a strange look in his eyes.

I nodded apprehensively. "I guess so."

"I... I need to think," Aaron muttered.

I swallowed and nodded, then glanced up at Charlie. "You won't wipe our memories now, will you?"

Charlie shook his head. "No, but I need to speak with the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Something has obviously gone very wrong here. Look, I'll take you both home and I let you know tomorrow what's going on, okay?"

I glanced at Aaron who was staring at the ground. "Yeah, thanks."

Charlie took us both by our arms again and there was a loud crack as we arrived back at my house. Aaron told Charlie where he lived and Charlie took hold of him again and they disappeared.

I slowly went inside and closed the door behind me, thoughts whirling in my head as I made my way up to my room.

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**Author's Note: **Sorry if this chapter seemed a bit confusing. The next chapter should be better.

Please review!


	3. Hogwarts

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter or anything you recognise.

I must be on a roll today, this is the third fanfic I've managed to update. Sorry it's been so long, enjoy!

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**Chapter Two**

**~ Hogwarts ~**

"So, are you ready?"

I glanced over at Charlie. He had been trying to talk to me for the whole journey to Hogwarts and his persistent attempts to get me to open up, while admirable for his perseverance, were getting on my nerves.

We were sitting in a carriage pulled by Thestrals (or so Charlie told me; I couldn't actually see anything pulling the carriage) borrowed from a man called Hagrid, whom I had been told was the Hogwarts groundskeeper. According to Charlie, pupils usually caught the Hogwarts Express from the Kings Cross station in London but because I was new (and I wasn't a first year) Charlie got permission from the headmaster, Dumbledore, to take me separately. Charlie told he had wanted to take me on the back of a Hippogriff but it was too dangerous, especially as I was new to the magic world.

"What do you think?" I spoke for the first time in two hours, making Charlie twitch in surprise. I hid a smile as I watched his reaction.

"I think you look ready on the outside but on the inside you're wishing you had never told me you have magic," Charlie guessed. I was surprised at how accurate he was. I gave him a short nod.

Charlie was sitting opposite to me, and leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. "You've said goodbye to your parents and friends?"

I nodded again, rolling my eyes. "You were there," I reminded him shortly. After Charlie had spoken with Dumbledore, one of the Hogwarts Professors had visited us along with Charlie and explained the whole magic-is-real-and-your-daughter-has-it-so-now-she- needs-to-school-at-Hogwarts-which-is-a-boarding-sc hool-in-Scottland-so-you-will-only-see-her-in-the- school-holidays-now situation. Yeah, that was a fun conversation, but my parents had accepted (a loose use of the word) it at last and so now here I was, in my new Hogwarts robes with my wand and books and cauldron and everything else I had bought from Diagon Alley, on my way to the school I had never believed in.

"I never knew muggles could scream so loudly," Charlie remembered, wincing at the memory. He had performed a levitation charm to prove to my mother that magic was real and she had screamed right in his ear before fainting. I choked back a laugh at the memory of Charlie's expression. He swore he was half-deaf in his left ear now.

"Anyway, it looks like we're here now," Charlie grinned as the carriage pulled to a stop.

"Great," I sighed, the word out of my mouth before I could stop it.

Charlie opened the carriage door and grabbed my trunk. "You are allowed to talk, you know," he told me as he exited the carriage after me and the proceeded to lead me up to the castle.

I glanced at him. It was dark out so I couldn't see his face properly. "I know."

"Then why have you barely said anything this whole time? And don't tell me you're shy," Charlie pressed.

I shook my head. "No," I said simply, pulling my cloak tighter around me as the wind picked up.

"Why?" Charlie asked again. "You know I won't stop asking until you tell me," he added.

I gritted my teeth. "Fine. It's because I don't like talking to people. Happy?"

"No. You conversed just fine with Alex and your other friends."

I clicked my tongue. "His name's Aaron, not Alex. I talk to him and my other friends because I know them. I don't know you."

Charlie laughed. "You just spent two hours listening to me talk, and you say you don't know me?"

"Hey, I didn't ask you to fill every silence," I said. Then I bit my tongue. That came out in a friendlier tone than I had wanted it to.

But I caught Charlie grinning at me as the moon peeked out at us from behind a cloud. "I figured you'd be more comfortable if I talked rather that if I ignored you."

I didn't answer.

Charlie sighed. "Back to ignoring me again, are we?"

I didn't answer.

"Well, I'm not going to stop asking until you give me the truth," he informed me as we drew closer to the castle.

_In a few minutes we'll say goodbye and probably never see each other again, so good luck with that,_ I thought.

As if he had read my mind, Charlie added, "There are other ways of communication opposed to talking. Come on, I'll take you to the Great Hall where Professor McGonagall is waiting for you." He led me inside and I followed him, relieved of the warmth offered by the castle.

* * *

"Ah, there you are Master Weasley," a tall, thin, fairly wrinkly woman with gray hair said as soon as we rounded a corner and arrived outside two large doors which I took to be the entrance to the Great Hall. "And Miss Earlene, I'm glad to see you made it in one piece."

I frowned slightly, puzzled by what she meant.

The woman smiled and looked at Charlie. "Young Master Weasley was trying to get permission to take you on the back of a Hippogriff, but I see he didn't succeed."

Charlie grinned lazily. "Well, I'll see you later Zakia," he said and put my trunk on the ground. He turned around and was just walking off when I remembered my manners.

"Thanks!" I called after him. He waved a hand to show he had heard but didn't reply. I stared after him until he was out of sight.

"Now Miss Earlene, I am Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house. I trust Master Weasley told you about the houses?" the woman turned to me.

I nodded. "Yes, Professor."

"One of the house-elves will take your bags up to your room. Now, follow me."

Professor McGonagall opened the doors and led me down the middle of the Great Hall to where a small girl (a first year, I guessed) was sitting on a stool wearing an oversized hat. Either side of me were four long tables – Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin (I assumed they were house tables).

As we walked down the hall I tried to ignore the stares people were throwing my way.

"Late first year?" I heard one boy mutter as I passed him.

"Nah, she looks too old to be a first year. Maybe she's an exchange student?" his friend replied.

"Hufflepuff!"

I jumped in surprised when I saw the hat open it's 'mouth' and shout out the name of the house the girl ran to. Charlie had warned me about the talking hat but I had half-thought he was joking.

"And last but not least we have a new pupil who will be joining the fifth years. Earlene, Zakia," called out a teacher standing next to an old man with a long white beard who I could only assume to be the headmaster, Dumbledore.

"Off you go," Professor McGonagall gave me a push from behind.

Muttering broke out all over the hall but I lifted my chin and strode forward, taking a seat on the stool. I forced myself not to flinch when the hat touched my head and began muttering in my ear.

"Oh, we certainly have an interesting person here, don't we?" it began. "You're very loyal, I can see, and you have a lot of nerve. But you aren't afraid to do whatever you have to in order to get what you want. Interesting, interesting... You have an intelligent mind and would do well in Ravenclaw, but I can see your main interest does not lie with studying. Hmm, it appears you also prefer to keep to yourself rather than enjoy the company of others. If it were not for this then I believe Gryffindor would be the house for you."

I could see people getting restless as they wondered what was taking the hat so long to sort me, and I, too, felt irritated at how long I had to stay there for.

"Hurry up, will you?" I hissed at the hat.

The hat uttered a sound I took to be laughter. "You have a lot of potential, and it would only be suppressed in any other house. If we ignore how this house traditionally only takes in purebloods then I am beyond certain that the house you belong in is..."

I clenched my fists as the hat paused.

"SLYTHERIN!" it shouted suddenly, and I jumped. Someone lifted the hat off my head and I looked around the hall. The table on the far left side of the hall had broken in to claps and so I assumed this was Slytherin house. As I walked over to the Slytherin table my tie changed from black to green and silver.

"Here, come and sit with us," a friendly looking girl called as she moved up to make space for me on the bench.

"Thanks," I gave her a forced smile.

"I'm Pansy Parkinson, fifth year, and these are my friends; Millicent(Millie) Bulstrode, Daphne Greengrass, Parnella(Nelly) Highbough, Abelia Foxhall and Raelene(Rae) Rowberry."

"Nice to meet you all," I replied. "I'm Zakia Earlene. When does the feast start?"

Pansy giggled. "Dumbledore has to make his announcements first, silly!"

I raised an eyebrow. Okay...

After Professor Dumbledore had said something about the Forbidden Forest being out of bounds and a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher (who also made her own boring speech), the feast finally began. By this time I wasn't too surprised when the food appeared magically on the table, and just began picking what I liked and putting it on my plate. I had to admit, the food was delicious and all of my favourites appeared on the table.

"So, tell us about yourself," Pansy said as we began eating.

I wrinkled my nose. I did not want to tell her anything but I guessed I was stuck with her for the rest of the year so I sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"Where's your family from? I've never heard the name Earlene before," Daphne commented curiously.

I snorted. "My family has American origins. Why should you have heard my name before? It's not exactly popular," I told her. The other girls all nodded, accepting my answer.

"Did you go to school in America before coming here?" Parnella questioned as she helped herself to a slice of some sort of pie.

I pushed my plate away feeling full and took a sip of water. "No, I went to school in Iceland," I said dryly. "Actually I went to the local high school."

All of the girls started laughing apart from Raelene, who was observing me closely. I stared right back at her until she looked away.

They kept questioning me until I was bored sick of avoiding answering their questions. They seemed to think I was just trying to make them laugh, but in actual fact I was just being sarcastic because I was really tired.

"You're funny," Pansy laughed.

I stood up, rolling my eyes. "And you're either a lesbian or just plain dumb. Where are the dormitories?"

Pansy stared at me in shock and slowly a silence spread down the table as people listened into our conversation. "How dare you? I was just being friendly," she glared at me, also standing up.

"Oh, really?" I brushed my fringe out of my eyes. "Then I guess you don't try to befriend girls very often because you're so busy trying to flirt with boys that couldn't care less about you that you forget how to speak without a false, flirty tone. Either that or like I said, you're just dumb."

"Lay off, newbie. You have no right to talk to a Parkinson like that," Millicent Bulstrode glared at me.

I raised an eyebrow at here. "Like what? Like I'm being honest? Yeesh, I didn't know girls here would be so stuck up. Now are you going to tell me how to get to the dormitories or not?"

Millie looked like she wasn't quite sure what to say. She was a big, beefy girl but clearly had little or no brains.

"You should be careful, Earlene, because Pansy's practically a member of the Malfoy family already so if you mess with her, you mess with them, and no-one wants to mess with them," Abelia told me snootily.

"Just ignore her Pansy, I'm sure Draco'll put her right when he hears what she's been saying," Parnella added.

I laughed. "Like Draco would ever even try to 'put me right'," I told them, still laughing.

Before anyone else could say anything, there was the sound of benches being scraped back and some teacher telling the Prefects to take the first years to their dorms. Doubting that anyone from my year would take me to the Slytherin dorms, I decided to go with the first years and spun around.

* * *

I walked down the hall towards the Slytherin prefects with quick steps and joined the group of first years gathered around them.

"Okay, this way," one of the prefects began leading us out of the hall and I mingled in with the first years, lost in my own thoughts until someone tapped my shoulder.

"You don't look like a first year," a bold voice said.

Blinking, I looked around. Walking next to me was a boy whose head only just reached my shoulder. Looking at the other first years I realised he was tall for his age. He had a mop of dirty blonde hair and sparkling green eyes.

"What?" I asked, disorientated for a moment. "Oh, sorry, I was thinking about something. What did you say?"

The boy looked me up and down. "You don't look like a first year," he repeated with a curious expression.

"That's because I'm actually a teacher sent to spy on all you first years to make sure you behave, but don't tell anyone," I winked at him. He was cute and reminded me of my cousin, Derek, who was the same age as him.

The boy shook his head. "I don't believe you. I think you're here because you're in love with Professor Snape and think that he'll most likely appear to talk to the first years so you decided to mix in with us in the hope to catch a glimpse of him," the boy said, completely poker faced.

I stared at him. "Who's Professor Snape?"

The boy looked at me in disbelief, opening his mouth to say something when a voice behind us made us both jump.

"That would be me," a nasally voice informed us. I turned to see a tall, middle aged man with a large hooked nose and greasy hair standing directly behind me.

I stared at him and then exchanged a look with the boy I had been talking to.

"S-Sorry Professor, we didn't know you were there," the boy stammered. I just observed the Professor, trying to gauge what type of a person he was.

"Evidently," was Professor Snape's drawled response. "Hadn't you better run along and catch up with the other first years, Baine?"

Recovering from his initial surprise, Baine grinned. "I reckon they can last a minute without me. Did you want something, Prof?"

I rolled my eyes at Baine. Something told me this teacher would not take kindly to his attitude. To my surprise, the Professor merely gave Baine a cold look.

"I will not stand insolence in my house, Baine. Now go and catch up with your year."

This time, Baine shrugged and walked away. "Later, Earlene."

I smiled at myself as the first year disappeared round the corner. He had guts, addressing a Professor like that. He was too cocky for his own good, but at least he wasn't pelting me with questions like everyone else.

"Earlene, you are a muggleborn, correct?" Professor Snape's voice drew my attention back to him.

I nodded slowly. "Yes, sir."

"Then you had better be careful. Slytherin house only accepts Pureblood Wizards and Witches, so either something has gone drastically wrong with the Sorting Hat or you are not muggleborn. Until we can sort this mess out, keep your head down. Understand?" Professor Snape's face was expressionless, but I detected worry hidden under his façade.

I dipped my head. "Of course Professor."

"Good. I will find another student to tutor you and help you catch up with your lessons. Now I will take you to the Slytherin common room." Professor Snape took off with a brisk stride down the corridor, cloak billowing behind him, and I had to walk quickly to catch up.

The further we went the colder it got, and the Professor told me the Slytherin rooms were under the lake. That explained the coldness.

"Here we are. The password is Pureblood. Good day Miss Earlene." Professor Snape wasted no time in turning around and walking right back up that corridor, leaving me staring after him in surprise. He certainly didn't like to waste his words.

I turned back to the stone wall and said, "Pureblood," uncertainly. The wall moved sideways to reveal a door which I assumed lead to the Slytherin common room. Going through it, I stared around the room I found myself in.

It was a dungeon-like room with greenish lamps and chairs. It had a greenish tinge, probably because it was based under the lake, and had lots of low backed black and dark green button-tufted, leather sofas; skulls; and dark wood cupboards. It created quite a grand atmosphere but (probably because of being in the dungeons) also quite a cold one. The walls were decorated with tapestries featuring famous Medieval Slytherins. *

"See, I was right. You do fancy him," Baine's voice said from somewhere to my right. I looked around for him but didn't see him until he said, "Up here." Looking up, I saw him perched on a stone outcrop overhanging the door, which I doubt was meant to be sat on.

I nodded. "You caught me, I can't deny it," I sighed, playing along with him like he really was Derek.

"Where is everyone, anyway?" I asked him when he jumped down.

Baine shrugged. "Probably up in their rooms getting their stuff sorted. But, being the kind sole that I am, I decided to wait for you because I knew that you would have no clue where to go when you finally stopped mooning over the Professor."

I chuckled. "Of course. So, where's my room?"

"I don't know, I didn't pay attention to where the girls dormitories are," Baine replied nonchalantly. I stared at him.

"Some help you turned out to be. I'd better go and look for my dormitory then, hadn't I?" I said and began walking towards the staircase.

"Hey, don't you even want to know my name?" Baine called after me.

I looked over my shoulder. "You name's Baine."

Baine rolled his eyes. "No, I mean my first name."

"Oh. What is it?" I asked him.

Baine grinned and began walking towards me. As he sauntered past, he said, "Find it out yourself," and then disappeared up the stairs.

I shook my head as I followed him up. He took the door on the right so I decided to take the left door.

I soon found my dormitory, and my dorm-mates were certainly not happy to see me.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So, what did you think? And before anyone asks, no Baine does not have a crush on Zakia - he is a first year. He's just being friendly in his own way, and Zakia is glad of that because she doesn't like people asking her questions about things.

Please review!


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